


We'll Play Hide and Seek to Turn This Around

by defenselesswriter



Series: Give Me Love [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Also Jennifer is not going to be evil in this okay?, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, F/M, It is subject to change, M/M, Mentioned Kate/Derek, Teen and Up Audience Rating for now, sterek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-14
Updated: 2013-08-16
Packaged: 2017-12-23 11:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/925595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/defenselesswriter/pseuds/defenselesswriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Lydia, you know how much I hate blind dates,” Stiles says. “It always ends badly… You know me, Mr. One Night Stand now.”</p><p>“You had a one night stand and now you’re obsessing over him,” Lydia says.</p><p>“I’m not obsessed with Obscene Stubble Guy.”</p><p>“You’re obsessed with him, and you were the drunk when the two of you met. So drunk in fact that you can’t remember anything about him except for his stubble.”</p><p>“It was great stubble,” Stiles says defensively. “And eyebrows. He had very expressive eyebrows. I’m sure if I saw him again, I’d be able to recognize him.”</p><p> </p><p>Or in which Stiles and Lydia go on a double date while Stiles is still obsessing over his one night stand with Obscene Stubble Guy.</p><p> (title from Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran. I couldn't think of a title and this just happened to be the song playing)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Un-beta'd, so if there is a glaring mistake, please point it out, and I shall fix it! Thanks(:

“Lydia, you know how much I hate blind dates,” Stiles says with a wince as he watches Lydia prance around in the third dress she’s tried on. “It always ends badly. The other person either decides that my endearing awkwardness and flailing isn’t so endearing and they bail before their meal even arrives.”

“You make it sound like that happens every time, Stiles,” Lydia tells him with a stern look, their eyes meeting through the long mirror that Lydia is using to check her outfits. “It happened once. And opinion?” Her eyebrows raises at him expectantly.

He frowns. “What are you going for tonight?” he asks. “And yeah, it happened once, but that pretty much spurned me from blind dates since. You know me, Mr. One Night Stand.”

“You had _a_ one night stand, and now you’re obsessing over him,” Lydia adds. “Also, I’m going for sophisticated and sexy tonight.”

“Then that dress is perfect for it,” Stiles answers slightly reluctantly because when did get dubbed the girlfriend that helps Lydia pick out outfits? Isn’t that what Allison was for? Stiles doesn’t expect Lydia to pull an all-nighter with him to play video games and eat the most processed food on earth, does he? That’s what Scott is for. “I’m not obsessed with Obscene Stubble Guy.”

Lydia gives him a look that was part pity and part get-your-shit-together-Stiles, a mix that Stiles knew well coming from her face. “You’re obsessed with him, and you were the drunk when the two of you met. So drunk in fact that you can’t remember anything about him except for his stubble.”

“It was great stubble,” Stiles says defensively. “And eyebrows. He had very expressive eyebrows. I’m sure if I saw him again, I’d be able to recognize him…why are we going on this date again?”

Lydia has now transferred her attention to stomp over to Stiles’ room. After freshman year of college in dorms, they both decided that people are idiots, and that Stiles and Lydia suck at sharing with other people. So they went for the obvious solution and sophomore year, they rented an apartment together. Two rooms, two bathrooms, and perfect for just the two of them. Their rooms were far enough apart that if they did have a guest over, they weren’t disturbing the other roommate. They fought and bickered like a couple, but they are best friends, so it works somehow.

Also, something Stiles has learned about Lydia since moving in with her, she looks just as beautiful without makeup as she does with.

They’re now in Stiles’ room with Lydia rummaging through his dresser and closet, picking out his outfit for the night, and Stiles is on his bed, sprawled, and waiting for an answer to his question.

“I met her a few days ago,” Lydia finally says as she glares a drawer full of Stiles’ plaid shirts like they personally offended her by saying that her math equation on something or another (honestly, Stiles couldn’t exactly stay focused when Lydia was talking about the equations she made up because, like what does it mean? But if he asks that, then he has to focus even longer, so now he just nods along like he knows exactly what she’s saying, which he does…about 20% of it) wasn’t even that impressive, which they always are to her professors.

“We were at the coffee shop,” she continues with the story. She seems to have picked out a shirt and is now looking for pants that don’t have holes in the crotch. _Good luck with_ Stiles snorts in his head. “And she had forgotten her wallet, so I offered to pay for her. Then we sat down with our coffees and talked.” Lydia has a small smile on her face. “She’s older, but she actually seemed interested when I was talking about math. And yes, Stiles, that’s aimed at you. Don’t think I don’t notice the way your eyes glaze over when I talk about my equations like I’m the most boring human on Earth.”

Stiles rolls his eyes, pleading the fifth on that one because not something he wants to get into with Lydia. Something he also learned about her from sharing an apartment together? She was fucking frightening. More so than he originally hypothesized. “Wait,” Stiles says, sitting up. “Describe her. I might know who she is.”

“Stiles, just because you work there, doesn’t mean you know everyone,” Lydia snorts, but then smiles smugly when she finds pants that don’t have any holes and that she is actually satisfied with how they look. She throws the clothes at him before turning around to let him change. “But since I know you won’t give up, I’ll humor you. She has dark hair, she’s tall, gorgeous, has these really intriguing hazel eyes, and is really snarky. She reminds me of you except for more graceful, more mature, and less silly, I suppose.”

“Rude,” Stiles mumbles as he pulls up his pants. “Dear _god_ , Lydia. These pants are squeezing my favorite part of me.”

Lydia rolls her eyes at that, ignoring him, so Stiles continues on with their conversation. “Yeah, I think I do actually know her.” He thinks more about. “Americano with a dash of caramel and a hint of sugar?”

Stiles tries not to explode with pride when Lydia looks slightly impressed when she nods, signaling that he is correct. He ruins the moment by pumping his fist in the air out of victory.

“Her name is Laura,” she finally says.

Stiles rolls his eyes. “You know how horrible I am with names. Anyway, that doesn’t explain why I’m being forced to tag along?”

“We were talking, and she was saying that her brother is a pathetic loser, who never leaves the house anymore, and his tortured soul act is driving her nuts. I told her about my pathetic roommate, who would rather sit in front of the TV all night, shoveling chow mein in his mouth instead of going out to a party and having fun.” Lydia takes a deep breath and sighs. “So we decided that maybe we should set up our pathetic loser-roommate/brother together. Plus, Laura refuses to go out while he brother stays in.”

Stiles groans. “You’re setting me up with a grumpy old man?”

“He’s like two years older than you, Stiles,” Lydia snaps before turning around and smiling. “Damn I’m good.”

Stiles goes into his bathroom to assess Lydia’s outfit choice, and it actually wasn’t bad. He frowns at himself in the mirror; the dark red pants that are way too tight actually look good on him, and the black V-neck that he has no idea where it even came from goes well with his freakishly pale skin. He runs a hand through his hair once and sighs before going back in his room to pull on his shoes while Lydia is in her room to grab hers.

He meets her by the door, grabbing his wallet, keys, and cellphone and shoving them all in his pockets. She struts out in her heels and tosses her curled, red hair over one shoulder, shooting him a smile. He holds his arm out for her. “Ready, my lady?” he asks, acting proper.

She rolls her eyes with a smile at him. “Come on, loser.”

 

 

“Derek, you have to go,” Laura insists.

“I don’t,” he mumbles, glaring at his outfit. Laura is making him wear a dark red shirt and his normal black pants, but it’s the red that bothers him the most. Why red? What was wrong with his first choice, a black t-shirt? “It’s _your_ date.”

“Yes, but she has a loser roommate, who shares some traits with you,” she hisses at him and then looks at the mirror again to fix her hair. Derek watches her thinking that she is really nervous for this date.

“Yeah, what’s that?” he snaps because as much as he wants his sister to be happy, he doesn’t want to go out on a blind date.

“You’re both hermits and pathetic,” she snaps back with a glare to him. “Please, Derek? Just go. I need you with me, okay?”

That softens Derek up. It may be unhealthy, but the two of them don’t go a lot of places without the other since the fire. They were all each other had left, and the separation anxiety they experienced was uncomfortable at best. Derek’s glare almost withers away. “Fine,” he sighs.

“I know dating has been hard since your one night stand,” she says softly, hand on his shoulder.

He shrugs her hand off, not wanting to talk about Stiles with her. He was completely drunk when they met, and Derek would be surprised if the kid even remembered having sex with him. “Forget about it,” he mumbles, grabbing his stuff. “You ready? Can we leave now?”

She frowns at him, reaching a hand out. “Hey, I know how hard it is, okay? I have my own set of trust issues over here, but this girl? She’s great. I have a really good feeling about this. For both of us.”

Derek rolls his eyes and doesn’t mention how much worse his trust issues are than Laura’s because Laura doesn’t know the half of it. Plus, his encounter with Stiles didn’t exactly help that at all.

“Let’s go,” he finally says, taking her arm and pulling her out of the apartment. The restaurant is close to their apartment, so they walk, admiring the lights of the city. New York City had been their only option after the fire. They have some distant family here – the only family they have left – who took in the orphans.

They arrive after a ten minute walk, walking inside to sit down at the table. They arrived first, waiting for the other two of their party to join. That’s when Derek sees him. His entire body stiffens when he recognizes the boy’s face, and he stops breathing. Just staring.

He’s just as beautiful as he was that night at the bar. Derek’s breathing shallows out as he remembers the way the kid’s hands moved and how flushed his face was while they were having sex or how he never stopped talking even during climax.

The kid standing at the front door of the restaurant with his arm over a redhead’s shoulders? The kid is Stiles.

“Der, you okay?” Laura asks and then looks up, her face lighting up as she waves someone over. She stands up, and Derek can’t help but watch as Stiles and his girlfriend walk closer to the table before Laura hugs his girlfriend. That’s when Derek puts two and two together. This is Lydia, Laura’s Lydia. And Lydia’s hermit roommate is Stiles.

Fuck.

Stiles is smiling at Laura, shaking her hand as she introduces himself. He runs a hand through his hair and then glances at Derek before looking at Lydia. Then his entire head turns to stare at Derek, eyes wide as a blush creeps up his cheek before he rushes to stare at his shoes.

Fuck.

“Stiles,” Laura says, sitting back down next to Derek. “This is my brother, Derek.”

“Hey,” Stiles says, his entire face smiling at Derek like it had That Night, but this time he is completely sober. “How’s it going?”

Derek tries to say something, but it just comes out as grunt, and he’s glaring. How can Stiles just pretend nothing happened between them? He obviously recognized him. Well, two can play that game. 


	2. Chapter 2

Stiles nods, unsure of how to respond to Derek’s grunts and glares. He recognizes the dude, but he doesn’t know where from. Throughout dinner, he studies Derek, trying to be coy about it because he doesn’t want the other man to catch him at it. Lydia does though. Of course, Lydia does.

Then so does Laura, who just smiles at Stiles encouragingly like she wants him to start hitting on her brother. Do all sisters act like that? Stiles gets a mental image of Allison constantly ushering him to hit on other guys or setting him up, and Allison is as close to a sister he can get.

“Rate?” Lydia whispers in Stiles’ ear during their main course.

Stiles just gives her a look. “I’m not checking him out,” he hisses under his voice. “I recognize him, but I can’t place him.”

She nods once. “Rate?” she asks again.

He sighs and runs a hand over his scalp, scratching slightly as he glances at Derek, who is glaring at his food like it’s the scum of the Earth. What’s his problem? “Ten out of ten would bang,” he mumbles, which is the highest rating he can give.

Lydia’s eyebrows raise slightly as she takes a careful bite of her pasta. Her fork sneaks over to delicately stab one of Stiles’ fries. He glares at her as she pops it into her mouth with a small smile.

“You disgust me,” he mumbles because he doesn’t share food, but Laura catches and gives him an amused look. Then Laura and Lydia jump into conversation, tuning out every attempt Stiles makes to join the conversation, so he turns his attention to Derek.

“How’s your food?” he asks, knowing he sounds lame, but he can’t stand the not talking that’s happening to him.

Derek shrugs. “It’s fine,” he grumbles.

Stiles frowns at him, trying to piece together Derek’s attitude with a face from his memory. He seems to have really pissed this guy off and the sooner Stiles can remember what he did to this poor guy, the sooner he can apologize for his drunk ass. That’s assuming Stiles was drunk when he pissed him off. He usually is when he does that, but he’s also pissed off plenty of people sober before too.

“So what do you do?” he asks, trying again and hopes pretending that he doesn’t know Derek will work.

Derek glances at him, eyes wide like he’s surprised Stiles doesn’t know. Fuck. Maybe Stiles should know that. “I’m an architect,” he answers begrudgingly after Laura glares at him. “You?”

“I’m a student,” he says, head bouncing as he takes a bite of his turkey burger. If he made his dad eat healthy, Stiles had to too. It was pure hypocrisy if he ate junk food.

“What do you major in?” Derek asks, seemingly interested in the conversation now.

“Um, I haven’t decided quite yet.” Stiles hates the major question because his answer makes him sound like this slacker, who has no visions for the future, which isn’t true, okay? “I’m trying to decide between behavioral psychology and criminology.”

Derek almost looks impressed for a second before making his face into an uninterested expression again and just grunts as an answer.

Stiles clears his throat and starts scratching at the back of his head. This is incredibly uncomfortable and awkward, and Lydia owes him big for this. Blind dates suck.

 

 

Blind dates suck. Stiles just keeps pretending that he doesn’t know Derek, and Derek is finding himself interested in his conversation with Stiles before the boy starts to look slightly surprised when Derek realizes his face has changed expression without consent. He schools it back into his normal face before focusing on his food again.

But behavioral psychology and criminology? Stiles was too drunk the last time they saw each other to be able to answer that question. Derek seems to remember Stiles answering that he was majoring in superhero comics and that he was going to become Spiderman when he grows up. It was cute then, but now that Derek knows his actual possible majors, Derek is just impressed.

The kid is obviously smart. An asshole, yes, but smart.

“We should go get ice cream,” Laura suggests, finally allowing Derek and Stiles into her and Lydia’s conversation.

“Stiles doesn’t eat ice cream,” Lydia says. “But are you guys okay with frozen yogurt? We know a great place just around the corner.”

“What’s wrong with ice cream?” Derek asks Stiles before he can stop himself.

Stiles blushes. “Nothing, dude. No one’s a bigger fan of ice cream than me, but my dad won’t eat healthy unless I do, so frozen yogurt it is.”

“Because frozen yogurt is so much better than ice cream?” Derek asks, an eyebrow arched.

Stiles glares at him slightly. “How about you guys go get ice cream? I’ll just go home. I have a test coming up in my calc class that I need to study for anyway.”

“I’ll help you with it later, Stiles,” Lydia says with a roll of her eyes. “You’re coming with us.”

“To get frozen yogurt,” Laura says with a small smile as she looks at Lydia. Derek doesn’t even bother trying to come up with a reason to ditch them because it is futile, and Laura actually does look happy, so he can’t ditch her now. If he ditches now so will Laura, who will be pissed about it, but she will do it anyway.

So after the bill is paid with bickering between Laura and Lydia that got so bad that they didn’t even notice Stiles taking the check and sneakily sliding his credit card in there before handing it to the waitress (Derek _wasn’t_ impressed. Again), the group goes to get frozen yogurt. The girls walk ahead, hands linked together while the boys hang back.

“Can I ask you something?” Stiles asks quietly like he doesn’t want anyone to overhear him.

“You just did,” Derek points out even though he knows it’s childish.

“Can I ask two more questions?” Stiles snaps back.

Derek is _not_ impressed by his snark, okay? He isn’t. “Fine,” he grumbles.

Stiles takes a deep breath before charging on. “Where do I know you from and why do you hate me? I know I recognize you, but please, please forgive me because I can’t place a memory to your face.”

Derek just looks at him, eyes wide. Stiles is practically pleading with him on the sidewalk. Derek doesn’t know what to say. Does he answer honestly? “I…” Derek pauses with a wince. “We had sex.”

Stiles’ eyebrows shoot up. “Holy hell,” he mutters under his breath.

“Yeah, I get it,” Derek snaps, his voice louder than he intended, but Laura and the redhead are too wrapped up in each other to notice the volume of Derek’s voice. “You regret it. Duly noted.”

Stiles looks him like he’s crazy, eyes wide. “You’re kidding, right?” Stiles asks, shaking his head. “I vaguely remember it, okay? I’m really sorry. I was just so drunk that night. It was the Friday after my twenty-first birthday. You know how it goes.” He shrugs. “I just can’t believe that you are really this hot. I thought it was beer goggles.”

 

 

Stiles didn’t just say that. He didn’t. Oh, please. Someone tell him that he didn’t actually say that. He’s blushing, but at least he knows Obscene Stubble Guy’s name. Or real name. “I’m really sorry,” Stiles says again then runs a hand over his face. “I’m horrible at this.” He takes a deep breath then he realizes something. He realizes why Derek seemed to hate him. “Did you think I was pretending nothing happened between us at dinner?” he asks him.

Derek frowns, which is his default expression it seems, and in Stiles’ defense, he didn’t recognize Derek because he is clean-shaven tonight. Totally threw him off, okay?

“Yeah,” Derek admits. “I thought you were ashamed of it.”

Stiles shakes his head adamantly. “No, dude. If I could tell the world that for just a night I scored someone as hot as you, I would. No, I just. You shaved,” Stiles says pathetically, gesturing at Derek’s face. “That night, you had stubble, and that’s like the main thing I remember.”

At that Derek laughs, and the noise causes the girls too look back, surprised. Lydia gives Stiles a look with her eyebrows, and he just blushes with a small smile before mouthing, “Later.” She gives him a nod and turns back with Laura.

Stiles takes a deep breath. “I’m really sorry about that night,” Stiles whispers. “Or well, no. That makes it sound like I regret, but I don’t, so sorry for being a shitfaced asshole who doesn’t remember that night.”

Derek nods. “It’s okay,” he says, and something about it makes Stiles feel like he’s actually accepting Stiles’ apology, and that it really is okay. _Huh_.

“So we’re cool now, right?” Stiles asks.

“Yeah,” Derek mumbles, looking away from Stiles.

Stiles can’t stop himself from smiling. They’re cool now. Stiles didn’t royally fuck someone over. Well, he did fuck Derek. Literally, but that’s neither here nor there. All that matters is Derek is no longer mad at him, which makes Stiles want to make Derek like him. Stiles wouldn’t mind a repeat of That Night. Yes, the beard burn was awful the next day, but it was simultaneously the best.

“So my stubble?” Derek questions, an eyebrow arched.

Stiles can feel his face heating up at that until he looks up to see that the girls have stopped, so he does too. They walk into the frozen yogurt shop that Lydia and he go to all the time because it’s so close to their apartment (did Lydia plan that?) and Allison works there (did Lydia plan that too?).

They all gather their cups and start getting their delicious frozen treat. Stiles always gets the same thing. Chocolate and raspberry yogurt with sprinkles and gummy bears (his dad doesn’t need to know about the toppings). Stiles looks over at Derek, who got vanilla with no toppings. Of course he did.

The groups sit at a table after paying, and Stiles lets Lydia get it this time while he distracted Laura with a very detailed story of Scott and Stiles breaking into their high school sophomore year.

“Why did you guys break into the school?” Laura asked.

Stiles shrugged. “I used to want to be one of those awesome hacker guys. I actually knew a guy in high school, but now he’s off to bigger and better things. Anyway, I was hoping that with the stuff I learned from my guy that I could hack into the school system and change Scott’s grades. He was grounded from me at the time to raise his grades, but we weren’t taking that shit. Separation anxiety is the worst.” Then Lydia gave him a meaningful look, so he ushered everyone to a table without them realizing Lydia had paid.

They were a great duo.

Now, the girls are being adorable and trying each other’s yogurts, and it totally reminds Stiles of Scott and Allison. Both couples are so adorable that it makes Stiles want to barf and then sob because he doesn’t have anything close to that. Just a one night stand that was awesome to his drunk-self.

Shit. What if it was actually awful and Derek had a horrible time? Should Stiles ask? Does he really want to know? No, he doesn’t because in this case ignorance is bliss.

“So I heard some of my rowdy friends were here, but I didn’t believe them,” someone says from behind Stiles.

He looks up at the smiling face of Allison, her dimples just making his heart melt. He’s allowed to think she’s cute, okay? Not the cute that makes him want to flirt but the cute that makes him want to hold her in his arms and protect her from the world. He thinks of Derek as both sides of cute. That’s not weird right?

 

 

Derek watches as Stiles practically jumps out of his seat to hug the girl that has come to the table. He wraps his arms around her tightly as she giggles. He kisses her cheek, and Derek’s stomach turns over. Of course Stiles has a girlfriend.

“Hey, cutie!” Stiles exclaims, pulling back from her and glancing down. “I didn’t know you were working tonight.”

She nods. “Got called in last minute.”

Stiles laughs when the girl makes a face at that. “I guess that ruined some great plans, huh?” he asks, waggling his eyebrows at her.

Her smile just widens as she nods. “Who are your friends?” she asks, gesturing to Laura and Derek.

Lydia glances up and then smiles. “Allison!” she says with a huge wave. “This is Laura and her brother, Derek.”

Allison looks down at Derek with a smile, holding out her hand. “I’ll apologize from Stiles’ rudeness. He just gets so distracted sometimes, you know?” Then she moves across the table to shake Laura’s hand, who just smiles at her.

“Your cuteness is a distraction to any man or woman, Allison,” Stiles says as he sits back down next to Derek, shoveling his dessert in his mouth with a passion. Allison stands behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder as he eats.

“Calm down, Stiles,” Allison tells him, patting his shoulder once. “You’re going to give yourself a tummy ache.”

He glares up at her, but there’s still a smile to his lips. Derek wishes that he and Stiles could converse this easily. Is this what it would be like if Derek and Stiles were dating instead?

No. Derek can’t be thinking these things. Stiles is taken. Stiles doesn’t want it. That Night was just a one night stand, and Derek needs to accept that. He knows he gets attached too easily, and he knows he has the worst luck with relationships, so this shouldn’t be as hard as it is.

And this is really hard. The way Stiles just forces his attention all into one thing is borderline beautiful, not that Derek would ever admit to it. Derek wishes that just for one more time, Stiles can focus all his attention on Derek like he did That Night.

“Well, I have to get back to work,” Allison announce and bends down to press a kiss to Stiles’ cheek before walking over to do the same to Lydia. “I’ll see you two later, and it was nice meeting the two of you.”

“Can you bring over Scott later?” Stiles asks, his eyes wide as he looks up at her pleadingly. “It’s been like a day since I’ve seen him.”

“I swear,” Allison mumbles, “you two are the clingiest brothers ever.”

Stiles grins at her as she walks back to behind the counter to help ring up customers. The place is surprisingly busy for a Friday night. Derek didn’t think that frozen yogurt was really that popular, but maybe it is.

Stiles focuses his attention back on Derek, still grinning. “She’s amazing, isn’t she?” he asks.

Derek doesn’t know what to say but just nods instead.

“We met in high school,” Stiles says, about to tell Derek the entire story of his relationship with his girlfriend, and Derek doesn’t want to hear it. “At first, I really wanted to hate her, but I just couldn’t, y’know? I mean, just look that smile.” He gestures over to Allison, who is smiling at customer. Derek will never admit it, but it’s a great smile. “No one can hate that smile. That smile can bring world peace. I’m sure of it. Anyway, so after I stopped hating her, everything just fell into place.”

Derek suddenly stands up from the table. He can’t hear this anymore. “I need to use the bathroom,” he mumbles as an excuse, but Stiles just silently points him to the restroom. He nods his thanks as he rushes to the restrooms and away from Stiles’ perfect love story, which obviously isn’t that perfect if Stiles cheated on Allison with Derek.

Great. Derek is _that_ guy, the guy who breaks up relationships unknowingly because he slept with a cute guy. May he just repeat it? Derek has the worst luck with relationships.

 

Once the group is done eating ice cream, they decide to call it a night. _Thank god_ , Stiles thinks because Derek has been avoiding him for the rest of the night, and Stiles can’t figure out why. Weren’t they cool?

Laura and Lydia kiss each other’s cheeks with a hug and promise to go out again. Lydia whispers something in Laura’s ear and the latter laughs and nods, apparently agreeing with whatever Stiles’ roommate suggested.

“I’ll see you around,” Stiles says, lifting his hand in a wave to Derek.

Derek just grunts in response and then turns away to start walking back to his apartment. Laura notices and then glares with a sigh as she pulls herself away from Lydia.

“It was nice meeting you, Stiles,” Laura tells him with a smile.

“You too,” he responds even though they barely talked tonight. Stiles thinks they could be friends, though. “Have a good night.”

“You too,” she responds as she speed walks to join her brother, slapping the back of his head when she reaches him. She launches into what Stiles thinks looks like a lecture with Derek’s head bent down like a dog being reprimanded, but Stiles can’t hear the actual words. He just notices when Derek’s head turns to look at Stiles once more before looking forward.

Stiles sighs and looks back at Lydia, who is staring at him with a calculating expression that frightens him slightly because he knows what usually happens with that look, so with a resigned sigh, he asks, “Can we at least wait until we get back to the apartment?”

She doesn’t say anything, so he takes that as her agreeing with him. They walk to the apartment in silence, but once they’re inside, Scott is flying at Stiles and grabs him into a huge hug.

“It’s been two days,” Lydia mumbles as she walks past them, but the two boys are clinging to each other like it’s been two years.

“I missed you,” Scott says, his voice muffled from where his face is pressed into his shirt.

“You too, bro,” Stiles responds, patting his best friend on the back. “Where are the others?”

It’s a tradition of their group to gather at one of their apartments when they go on a date unless the date goes really well and ends up back at the apartment. There were a few awkward encounters with that one before they – Stiles – had set up a system to keep that from repeating. Since Lydia went on a date tonight, Stiles is expecting the rest of their group to be here except for Allison, who is still at work.

“They’re all coming after Allison gets off work,” Scott answers with a shrug. “She sent me a text saying that you guys were ending the date, so I decided to meet you here.”

There are some times when Stiles really regrets giving all his friends copies of the key to his apartment and other times, like now, that he doesn’t. “I think Lydia is going to force me to talk to her first before everyone else gets here,” Stiles says, wincing in the direction of Lydia’s room. “If she comes out looking for me, tell her I’ll be there once I’m done changing, okay? These pants are way too tight.”

Scott nods once before plopping down on the couch to watch TV.

Once Stiles gets his sweat pants on, his door is opening to Lydia, who is wearing her pajamas now and her hair pulled back. He sighs as he grabs a shirt from the floor and sits on his bed, waiting the inquisition.

“Stiles, talk,” she demands.

“Derek is Obscene Stubble Guy,” he starts off with. Better to start off strong, right?

She gasps as she sits next to Stiles, facing him. “Keep going!”

            Stiles sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. “He thought that at dinner I was just pretending it never happened, but I just couldn’t remember where I had seen him from. I mean, come on. He had shaved. I was confused. Obscene Stubble Guy couldn’t just not have stubble, right? Anyway.” Stiles then launches into a long, detailed explanation of the night. “What about yours?” he demands when he finishes.

            “You’ll hear about it with the rest of the group,” she tells him and then tilts her head. “There’s the front door. Come on.”

            They leave his room to face Erica and Boyd standing in the living room. Erica smiles at Stiles and runs to give him a bone-crushing hug as her lips plant themselves on his cheek.

            She pulls back, but her hands are still on his shoulder and his hands are resting on her waist. “Stiles Stilinksi, it has been way too damn long since I’ve seen you,” she reprimands, and he winces. Erica is as scary as Lydia sometimes. “What has been more important than me?”

            “Well, remember I got that job at the coffee shop?” he reminds her. “Then there is school because I’m a junior who hasn’t chosen their major, so I have extra classes because I might just double major. You know how indecisive I am. So if I’m not working, I’m in class. If I’m not in class, I’m doing homework and studying. If I’m not doing home or studying, I’m passed out sleeping. I barely have time to eat let alone see my favorite blonde of all time.”

            She smirks at the compliment. “Don’t lie. I know I’m your favorite, Stiles.”

            He kisses her cheek before pulling back. “We all know how I fantasize about stealing you away from Boyd.” He winks at her and then flashes a smile at Boyd as he walks closer to him, wrapping the big man into his arms. “Missed you, buddy.”

            Boyd chuckles, patting Stiles’ back before he pulls back. “Watch it with my girlfriend, though. I’m very possessive.”

            Stiles leans in closer to Boyd, to tell him a secret. “Let’s just say if I was going to steal someone from your relationship, it wouldn’t be Erica.”

            “Hey!” she yells from across the room, offended.

            “He’s just such a good cook, Erica!” Stiles defends, moving to sit on the couch next to Scott. “Could you blame me for breaking up a perfectly good relationship just to have this man cooking for me?” He gestures to Boyd, who is trying not to smile.

            Erica rolls her eyes and sits next to Stiles, pulling her legs up under her, her knee resting on Stiles’ thigh. He has to admit. They are a very tactile group. They all touch, some more than others (Scott and Allison and Erica and Boyd). Stiles also has a habit of playfully flirting with the couples because it’s fun and harmless since obviously no one is going to act on their jokes.

            Boyd squeezes on the sofa next to Erica, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She leans slightly into him, and Stiles tries not to glare. Why are his friends all in these great relationships where they are seriously too fucking cute? And why is Stiles perpetually single? He has the worst luck with relationships.

            Next, Isaac walks through the door, smiling at everyone as his greeting. He sits on the floor in front of Stiles, leaning against his legs.

            Stiles met Erica, Boyd, and Isaac after Lydia, Allison, and he moved to New York from Beacon Hills. Scott stayed in Beacon Hills for a couple years, working at the vet’s office and going to community college until he saved enough money to move out there and finish up undergrad.

            Stiles remembers meeting Erica in his entry level psych class and then before he knew it, Isaac and Boyd were joining their weekly movie nights at Isaac’s apartment because he was the only one who didn’t live in a dorm. He was a couple years older than them, so he had moved past the dorm phase of college before the rest of them.

            Then Scott moved down here a few months ago at the start of the semester, moving in with Allison, of course.

            Isaac has moved since then, of course, but none of them have been to his new apartment because his roommates, his cousins, aren’t good around people. Since Lydia and Stiles have the biggest apartment (Stiles will not admit to anyone that it’s because Lydia makes her dad pay for the rent as punishment for her teenager years), everyone gathers here for weekly movie night or any gathering.

            Stiles supposes it’s convenient that Isaac is perpetually single like himself because they haven’t had to meet up at his apartment, which would probably scare and annoy the hell out of his cousins.

            Everyone is chatting, but they are all mostly making Stiles talk because he’s the one that hasn’t met up with anyone since the last movie night, which he spent sprawled on the floor trying to read his textbooks from the light from the movie and then he passed out halfway through the second movie.   

            He is finally saved when Allison waltzes through the door. He does a small cheer when he sees she is precariously balancing seven coffee cups. Lydia rushes to help her not drop any of them and then starts passing them out. It’s also a rule that the last person to arrive has to supply coffee for the rest of them.

            Once they all have their coffee, Stiles a latte with an extra shot of espresso and about a gallon of sugar and pint of hazelnut syrup. It’s sweet and caffeinated and perfect. It’s everything Stiles wants in a cup.

            Allison sits herself down on Scott’s lap while Lydia sits in her armchair. Yes, it’s hers. She will glare and almost growl at anyone who sits in it.

            “Let’s get started!” Allison chimes, sipping her coffee with a smile in her eyes. “Let me start with that Laura is _gorgeous_ , Lyds. Seriously. She almost rivals you with her fabulousness.” Lydia smiles at that, and then Allison turns to Stiles. “And Derek? The dark and broody has never been my cup of coffee,” she lifts her coffee slightly with a smile before continuing, “but he is really nice to look at.”

            Scott makes a wounded noise, so she bends down to kiss him, and Stiles and Isaac start making retching noises until they stop, the couple glaring at the bitter single men.

            “Wait,” Isaac says, looking from Lydia to Stiles. “Laura and Derek? Do you happen to know their last name?”

            “Hale,” Lydia answers, confused.

            Isaac mumbles an expletive. “I may have to sit this one out, guys,” he says with a sour look on his face like he really doesn’t want to sit it out. “Laura and Derek Hale? Those are my cousins. The ones I live with.”

            Stiles just starts laughing, patting Isaac on the shoulder. “I’m so sorry, bro. Derek is just so. Awful.”

            Isaac gives him a look, but still looks amused. “That’s my cousin, dude, and yeah, okay. Stop with the look, Stiles. He is awful, okay? But he has reason to be.”

            Stiles stops, remembering the story about some of Isaac’s distant family dying in a house fire ten years ago. “That was Derek’s house?” Stiles asks quietly.

            Isaac nods somberly.

            “Wow,” he whispers, looking down at his coffee cup. “Well, I guess I should tell you guys now. Remember that one night stand?”

            “Obscene Stubble Guy?” Boyd questions, an eyebrow raised.

            Stiles nods once. “That was Derek.”

            “Derek?” Isaac exclaims. “ _My cousin Derek_?”

            Stiles takes a deep breath and nods. “Yeah.”

            “Shit,” he mumbles and then Lydia launches into a detailed narrative of her night with Laura while Stiles sits there, thinking exclusively about Derek.


	3. Chapter 3

“Oh, my god,” Laura exclaims. She was lounging on the couch, but now she is sitting up and starting at Derek, wide eyed. “I didn’t even put the two names together. Wow. I’m sorry. I didn’t know Stiles was _that_ Stiles.”

Derek doesn’t want to believe that because really. How common of a name is Stiles? Derek doesn’t think it isn’t all that common.

“I can’t believe that was the same Stiles,” she says, huffing out air. “He is adorable though.”

Derek makes a noncommittal noise, not wanting to talk about Stiles with Laura. She keeps talking, but Derek isn’t listening anymore. He just stares at the floor as she talks until their front door opens.

“Hey,” Isaac says with a wave with one hand and coffee in the other. “Uh, I need to talk to you guys. You’ll never believe it.”

Laura jumps up and practically drags him back to the couch. “What?” she asks

“Your date tonight,” Isaac starts. “Lydia? Stiles?”

Laura is nodding furiously, trying to make him go faster. “Wait. I haven’t even told you about it. How did you know their names?”

“Lydia and Stiles are some of my best friends,” Isaac tells them, and Derek tries not to gape. “I just came from their house and they were talking about it.”

“What did they say?” Laura practically shouts.

Isaac shakes his head. “I left because I wasn’t comfortable with knowing. If they knew, I’d have to tell you, and that’s not fair to Lydia and Stiles.” And with that, Isaac stands up from the couch and goes to his room.

Later that night, Derek knocks on Isaac’s door and receives a “Come in,” from him. He enters the room, and Isaac is lying on his bed with his laptop. Derek sits next to him and is silent for a few minutes before Isaac goes, “Just ask, Derek. I know you want to.”

Derek sighs. “What did Stiles think of me?” he asks quietly.

Isaac closes his laptop. “Don’t tell Laura I told you this because I don’t like this, but I feel like I should tell you.” He stops and turns to face Derek. “You were the guy he had a one night stand with, right?”

“Yeah, but what does that matter?” Derek asks.

“Because Stiles has only had one one night stand. Ever.” Isaac gives Derek a look. “It was kind of a big deal to him, and he decided not to do it again because Stiles gets attached easily. Like you. Anyway, Stiles doesn’t know you. He’s confused. He wants to get to know you, Derek. And I think you should let him. He’s intrigued by you.”

Derek just shrugs. “He just likes how I look.”

“Yeah, but it’s not just that,” Isaac argues. “Stiles isn’t like that. He wouldn’t have slept with you if you were an awful human being.”

“He was drunk when we did,” Derek tells him.

“I know,” Isaac says with a roll of his eyes. “I was there, but I didn’t see who he left with. Scott just told me he left.” Then Isaac takes a deep breath, looking straight into Derek’s eyes. “If you do try anything, just be sure to tell him stuff. He assumes things way too much, and yeah. You two are a lot more alike than you think. Now, I’m done talking. Go.”

Derek laughs once and gets out of the bed, leaving Isaac’s room to go back to his own. Stiles is intrigued by Derek. _Intrigued_. That’s good, right?

But it doesn’t matter. Stiles has a girlfriend. Why is Isaac trying to get Derek to like Stiles if Stiles is in a relationship with Allison?

Derek may be interested in starting something with Stiles, but he can’t. He’s a better man than that. He won’t be that guy. Not again.

 

 

Stiles will go on record that waking up before eight is the worst thing that could ever happen to him. His shift started at five this morning. _Five_ , which meant Stiles had to be up at four in the morning. The sun wasn’t even up yet. The sun _still_ isn’t up.

He rests his head on the counter, moaning to himself. His boss, Jennifer, is in the back while Stiles mans the front because it isn’t busy yet. Apparently it doesn’t start getting busy until closer to seven. Go figure. Who the hell is up this early?

Then the bell on the door rings, signaling a customer’s arrival. That’s who is awake this early. Stiles stands up straight and looks into the face of Derek. His mouth falls open before he rushes to smile at the customer.

“Good morning, Derek!” he says with all the fake cheeriness he can muster at this early in the morning. “What can I make for you?”

Derek frowns at him and is glaring slightly. “An Americano black.”

 _Of course_ , Stiles thinks. The dude would not taint his coffee with sugar. Stiles writes on his cup and then smiles at Derek. “I got this one,” he tells him.

The frown deepens as if it wasn’t deep enough already. “You paid for dinner last night,” Derek says, and Stiles opens his mouth to tell him he’s lying, but Derek holds up a hand to stop him. “Don’t think I didn’t notice. I also noticed you distracting Laura so Lydia could pay for the yogurt. Let me pay for my own coffee, Stiles.”

Stiles just smiles at the way his name rolls of Derek’s lips and shakes his head. “Nope. It’s a thing we do. First customer of the day gets free coffee.” Stiles leaves the register to start making the coffee, and Derek follows.

“Stiles,” Derek complains, and then Jennifer comes out from her office and smiles at Derek. He stops to stare at her and then goes back to glaring at Stiles.

“Why is our customer unhappy?” she asks Stiles with a small smile.

Stiles grins at her. “Because I know him and anyone who knows me for more than five minutes already hates me, Jennifer. Come on. I’m annoying.”

“I don’t hate you,” Derek mumbles, but Jennifer laughs.

“What did you do to the poor man, Stiles?” she asks.

Stiles laughs, snapping the lid on Derek’s cup and hands it to the man. “I paid for his drink,” Stiles tells her.

She gasps. “How dare you? I should fire you now.”

Derek is glaring at both of them now as he takes a sip of his coffee. Then his gaze looks down at the cup, which makes him slightly cross-eyed, and Stiles tries not to laugh. “Why does this taste different?” he asks.

Stiles tilts his head innocently and waits until Jennifer returns to her office before he responds. “Do you like it?” he asks.

The glare hardens as Derek says, “Yes. What did you put in it?”

“A smile,” Stiles responds. “You don’t smile enough. You should try it.”

“Seriously, Stiles. What did you put in my coffee? What if I’m allergic to it?”

Stiles rolls his eyes. “You’re so melodramatic. I put a pump of hazelnut syrup. I put it in my coffee, and I thought that you would like it.”

Derek gives him a weird look as he takes another sip. “Hazelnut?”

“Just one pump. Enough for you to taste it but not enough to sweeten up your coffee.” Stiles flashes another smile.

“Are you new?” Derek asks him, leaning slightly on the counter.

Stiles glances down at his stance, his hip against the counter, and Stiles tries not to smile again. “Yeah, it’s my first morning shift, and it’s hell. Waking up before the sun is up should be illegal. Why are you up so early?”

Derek shrugs. “I wake up early so I have more time during the day to do my sketches. I like watching the sun rise.”

Stiles doesn’t know how to process the new information, but he locks it up in his brain. Just in case. “I love watching the sun rise too,” Stiles adds, his thoughts turning down a darker road that he doesn’t want to. “When I was a kid, my mom would wake me up to climb onto our roof to watch the sun rise. Whenever my dad would catch us there, he would yell at us about how dangerous it was to be on the roof, but then my mom would make him sit with us in the early morning, just staring out into the empty, quiet world and relax.”

Stiles’ eyes widen. “Oh, my god. I’m sorry. That is, um. Wow. I shouldn’t have said that. Apparently, you bring out the worst in my social awkwardness.”

Derek shakes his head at him. “No, it was nice. That sounds…that sounds like it was really nice.”

Stiles nods. “When I can, I stay up until sunrise to watch it and then go to bed.” Stiles frowns slightly. He’s never told anyone this ever. Not even Scott. He doesn’t tell Scott anything about his mom, and Scott doesn’t say anything about his dad. Stiles doesn’t know why he’s telling Derek.

“What about your mom?” Derek asks, tilting his head like he’s actually interested in what Stiles is saying.

Stiles swallows around the sudden lump in his throat and then the bill jingles again. He rushes to the cash register, giving Derek a parting smile and wave before taking the next person’s order. He tries not to feel an overwhelming sense of relief when he watches Derek leave because he really didn’t want to answer the broody man’s question.

But later that day when Stiles leaves work, he has a text from an unknown number.

**Unknown: Stiles? Why was your number on my coffee cup?**

Stiles smiles to himself as he walks home and replies to the text.

**Stiles: I don’t know how it got there.**

**Derek: Really? You’re playing that game? I’m deleting your number.**

**Stiles: Well, I have yours now, so I will persist and bother you to my heart’s content.**

Derek doesn’t respond to him, but it doesn’t matter because Stiles can’t stop smiling. He didn’t think that Derek would text him, but he did.

 

 

Derek looks down at his phone. Why does he have Stiles’ number? Why is Stiles responding to him? Why did Stiles give him the number? Stiles has a girlfriend, but Stiles is interested in Derek?

No. Derek should set him straight. He will too. Tomorrow morning when he gets his coffee, he will set Stiles straight if he’s working. He will.

“Stop smiling at your phone,” Laura says from across the table. Derek looks up at her. “Your smile is freaking me out.”

“Yeah? How’s Lydia?” he asks just to see her smile at the mention of the name.

“We’re planning another date,” she says quietly, glancing at her phone. “Without our losers.”

“I’m hurt,” he says sarcastically. “I was really hoping to be dragged along again.”

Laura rolls her eyes. “You like Stiles.”

Derek shrugs. “He has a girlfriend, so it doesn’t matter.”

Laura frowns and then pouts slightly. “I’m sorry, Derek.” She reaches across the table to grab his hand that is resting on the surface. She squeezes his hand. “You’ll find someone. I promise. I’ll set you up on more dates!”

Derek glares at her and pulls away his hand. “No thanks.”

 

**Derek: Laura told me she wants to set me up on more blind dates.**

**Stiles: Oh, that’s awful, dude. I’m sorry. Blind dates are awful. I went on one the other night and the guy. Ugh. The guy was just so broody. Hot but broody. Couldn’t stand him.**

**Derek: You couldn’t?**

**Stiles: Nope. That’s why I gave him my number the other day. Hate the guy. He keeps texting me too.**

**Derek: Maybe you should set him straight. Tell him he’s an asshole or something.**

**Stiles: You’re right! I will totally do that.**

**Stiles: Hey, Derek. You’re an asshole…or something.**

**Derek: You’re hilarious.**

He doesn’t set Stiles straight. He tries. He goes to get his coffee, and Stiles makes it with the pump of hazelnut syrup again. He opens his mouth to tell Stiles to stop whatever they’re doing, but he can’t. He can’t get it out because he doesn’t want it to stop.

He leaves the coffee shop with a smile, walking back to his apartment. He doesn’t stop smiling the entire time until he gets inside his apartment and there is a stranger sitting on his couch. She has blonde hair and really red lips.

She looks up at him, surprised. “You’re not Isaac,” she says, confused.

“You don’t live here,” he says slowly.

“You’re Derek, aren’t you?” she asks, her lips slowly creeping into a smile. “I’m Erica.” She stands up and holds out her hand.

Derek looks around the apartment before shaking her hand. “How did you get in here?” he asks, noticing that no one was home.

“We all gave each other keys to all our apartments,” she answers with a small smile, and Derek is so going to kill Isaac for that. “You’re the one who went out with Stiles that one night, right?”

“Which night?” he asks.

Her smile turns into a grin at that. “I like you,” she announces before the front door opens.

Isaac gives Derek a face of panic. “Hey, Derek,” he says, grimacing.

“We need to talk later,” Derek tells him. “About giving your friends keys.”

Isaac clears his throat and looks down. “Yeah, sorry about that. Um, Erica? You want to go now? Stiles is waiting for us.”

“Stiles is at work,” Derek tells them slowly.

Erica’s smile gets worse. Obviously Derek said the wrong thing.

“We’re bringing him food for his breakfast break,” Isaac tells him. “And how did you know?”

Derek lifts up his coffee cup. “He works at the coffee shop I always go to now, I guess.”

Isaac looks like he’s trying not to smile as he tries to force Erica out of the apartment. “Bye, Derek!” she calls out, blowing him a kiss.

Derek glares at them until the door is shut. Then he realizes that if all of Isaac’s friends have keys to their apartment, then so does Stiles.

**Derek: If you ever use the key to my apartment, I will rip your throat out with my teeth.**

**Stiles: Wtf? Oh, fuck. Did Isaac tell you that I have one? And what are you? A freaking wolf?**

**Derek: Don’t fucking use it.**

**Stiles: Stop being such a sourwolf. I won’t use it. Okay? I gotta get back to work. Later.**

 

Stiles can’t believe it. Derek has literally texted him every day since he gave the man his number. Stiles is trying not to do a happy dance, but after a week of texting Derek? It’s been awesome. He has now started calling Derek “Sourwolf” which Derek hates, but Stiles thinks he secretly loves it.

“Stiles, we’re going to kick you out of the room!” Erica yells. “At first, I thought it was cute, but now I’m sick you seeing your phone light up. Tell Derek to shut the fuck up and let us watch Avengers.”

**Stiles: Erica told you to shut the fuck and let us watch Avengers.**

**Sourwolf: Am I interrupting?**

**Stiles: I don’t think you are, but apparently, some people (Erica) are annoyed with how awesome we are.**

**Sourwolf: How awesome are we?**

**Stiles: We’re as awesome as Spiderman.**

**Sourwolf: That’s not very awesome.**

“What did he say?” Scott whispers to Stiles.

“Dude, you look like someone just killed your puppy,” Erica says and then her face hardens in anger. “What did he say to you?”

“He said that Spiderman isn’t very awesome,” Stiles croaks out.

Erica sighs and rolls her eyes like this isn’t important. Scott just rests a hand on Stiles’ shoulder from his seat on the couch. “It’s okay, buddy. I’m sure you can convince him.

**Stiles: I’m done talking to you. Like, don’t text me for the next day. I just. I can’t believe you said that.**

**Sourwolf: You’re a big Spiderman fan, aren’t you?**

**Stiles: Go away. I’m trying to watch Avengers.**

**Sourwolf: I’m sorry, Stiles. Please forgive me?**

**Stiles: Only if you will have a Spiderman marathon with me.**

**Sourwolf: …fine.**

**Stiles: I forgive you then.**

**Stiles :)**

“Oh, God,” Lydia groans and pauses the movie. “Why are you smiling like that, Stiles?”

“I asked Derek on a date,” he says proudly with a huge grin.

“That’s awesome!” Scott says, slapping him on the shoulder again.

“Aww that’s so nice,” Allison adds, leaning over to kiss Stiles on the cheek.

“Do I have to be here for the group meet up afterwards?” Isaac asks with a grimace.

Stiles grimaces with him. “No offense, but please don’t. I don’t want Derek to hear what I gush about him.”

“I don’t want to hear you gush about him,” Isaac tells him honestly.

**Sourwolf: My place or yours?**

**Stiles: Which do you prefer?**

**Sourwolf: Um probably yours because Laura and Isaac will probably will be here.**

**Stiles: I live with Lydia, but I can get her to leave for the night.**

**Sourwolf: Your place it is. I’m assuming you already have the movies?**

**Stiles: Obviously.**

Stiles has a date. With Derek. Holy shit. This can’t be happening. This cannot be happening. Stiles doesn’t have luck like this. Ever.

 

“It’s not a date, Laura!” Derek yells to her from his room after trying on his third shirt. Damnit.

“Then why is Lydia coming here instead of staying there?” she asks, coming to talk to him. She leans against his door as she watches him study his shirt.

“Probably because she is your girlfriend?” Derek asks.

Laura just beams at that. “Yeah, she is.” She looks down for a moment, thinking about Lydia probably. “But Stiles has a girlfriend, doesn’t he?”

“That’s why it’s not a date,” Derek tells her. “We’re just hanging out and watching Spiderman.”

“You hate Spiderman,” she points out.

He sighs and accepts the shirt that he’s wearing. He laces up his shoes and grabs his stuff before walking out of his room. “I’ll be back later,” he tells her and doesn’t stay long enough to hear her response. He knows it’s a bad idea. He knows that he likes Stiles. A lot more than he shoulder, but just being friends with Stiles is better than nothing.

At least that’s what he tells himself as he walks to Stiles’ apartment. It’s only about fifteen minute walk, so it’s not worth getting a cab for five minutes. Plus, it’s New York. Derek is used to walking most places since he’s lived here for almost a decade.

He shakes his head. He doesn’t need to think about that tonight of all nights. He’s just going to focus on being friends with Stiles and watching movies that he hates with Stiles.

He takes a deep breath before knocking on the door. Stiles opens it quickly with a smile on his face. Derek takes a moment to look at him. He’s wearing a black t-shirt under an unbuttoned plaid shirt with tight jeans and no shoes. Derek swallows, chanting to himself _not a date, not a date, not a date_.

“Hey!” Stiles says and steps back. “Come on in.”

Derek steps inside and looks around. It’s big, open apartment. There’s a kitchen to the left that is modern and a living room on the left with a huge, comfy looking couch and a floral armchair off to the side.

“This is my apartment,” Stiles says with a sigh. “My home away from home, I guess. I don’t know. I can’t stop thinking of my dad’s place as my house, but I guess this is home now.”

Derek nods, looking around. He points off to the left. “What’s that?”

Stiles smiles. “My room. Wanna see?” He doesn’t exactly wait for answer; he just grabs Derek’s hand and pulls him into the room. It’s a dark red and everything is everywhere. Stiles rushed to start picking up stuff. “Sorry. I guess I didn’t even think about cleaning it.”

Derek just grabs his elbow, shaking his head. “You don’t have to clean it on my behalf. It’s not bad.” He glances at the disorganized desk that holds a laptop, an array of papers, and too many textbooks. “You take this many classes?” Derek asks, running a finger over the textbooks.

Stiles blushes. “Uh, no,” he says with a nervous laugh. “I, uh. They’re for recreational reading.”

Derek’s eyebrows shoot up. “You read textbooks for fun?”

Stiles shrugs. “They’re really interesting.” He groans, closing his eyes. “Okay, let’s just leave my room before you find more stuff to tease me with.”

Derek laughs before glancing at the one thing he’s been avoiding, the bed. Surprisingly, it’s perfectly made with a black comforter topping it. It looks really comfortable. Derek clears his throat before looking up at Stiles, who is just staring at him, eyes slightly widened and mouth parted.

Stiles takes a step closer to Derek and then another, his hands hesitantly resting on Derek’s chest. He looks up at him, looking for a reaction that Derek can’t give him right now. Derek doesn’t even know how he feels as Stiles leans closer, his lips brushing his.

Derek takes a sharp breath before returning the kiss slightly. Then he backs up, eyes wide. “I’m sorry,” he automatically says. “I-I-I have to go.”

Stiles’ mouth opens to say something, but Derek just leaves the apartment before he hears what Stiles has to say. He just needs to get out of there. He’s embarrassed for one. He kissed Stiles. This wasn’t supposed to be a date, and Derek kissed Stiles. Yeah, Stiles kissed him first, but Derek was going to be the better man. He was going to be okay with being Stiles’ friend because Stiles is with Allison and yeah.

He gets back to the apartment and Laura and Lydia jump apart from each other. Laura opens her mouth to ask a question, but Derek just goes into his room. He needs to avoid everyone right now.

Later (Derek doesn’t know how long. He hasn’t been paying attention to time), someone knocks at his door. He thinks he calls out for them to go away, but the door opens anyway.

“Seriously, Laura,” Derek groans. “Not right now.”

“It’s Lydia,” she says softly.

Derek sits up to stare at his sister’s girlfriend. “What do you want?”

“What happened with Stiles?” she asks softly, sitting in Derek’s desk chair.

He just shakes his head, looking away from her. “I don’t know if it’s appropriate, Lydia.”

She sighs. “Look, I know I’m his best friend, but I also know him better than most people. I know he’s an asshole. What did he do?”

“He kissed me,” Derek mumbles.

Lydia laughs. “That’s it?” she asks.

Derek glares at her. “Does he need to do more?”

She frowns at him. “Do you not want Stiles like that?”

He rolls his eyes and lies down on his bed, finding it easier to stare at the ceiling instead of Lydia. “I do, but I can’t be with him.”

“Oh,” she says. She sighs again. “Boys are stupid. That’s why I decided to try my luck with girls. Worked wonderfully.”

“I tried girls once,” Derek mumbles darkly. “Didn’t end well.”

Lydia doesn’t say anything for a moment, but Derek can hear her stand up. “I really think you should talk to Stiles about tonight. For now, I’m gonna go get Allison and go home to comfort Stiles. For future reference, brownies are his preferred comfort food.”

He doesn’t say anything as the woman leaves his room. He just keeps staring at his ceiling until he finally admits that it’s time to check his phone.

**Stiles: Hey, I’m sorry about the kiss. I thought…I don’t know what I thought, okay? I just. I’m sorry.**

**Stiles: You okay? Are you really that mad? I promise not to do it again.**

**Stiles: Not that I don’t want to do it again. I don’t regret it, okay? Don’t think that. I’ll never regret anything with you, but obviously it upset you, and I’m sorry about that. I don’t want to hurt you.**

**Stiles: Sourwolf?**

**Stiles: Derek?**

**Stiles: Derek, please. I’m sorry. Can we still be friends?**

**Stiles: Okay. I get it. Sorry.**

And after that, the texts stop. It just pisses Derek off more. It’s like Stiles doesn’t even realize that kissing him was crossing a line that doesn’t need to be crossed. Poor Allison. Derek can’t date Stiles ever if this is how he treats his significant other? This is awful.

It doesn’t mean that Derek doesn’t not want to date Stiles because _god_ he really wants to date Stiles. He wants to kiss him and do what they did That Night, but not as a one night stand. No, as in Stiles living with Derek and being able to do that every single night if they want. Derek wants to wake up next to Stiles and see him look peaceful in his bed and know that Stiles is his.

But that can’t happen. No, Stiles is in a relationship, and apparently, Stiles is the worst boyfriend ever. Derek can’t go through another horrible relationship. He can’t.

Derek has the worst luck with relationships.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many misunderstandings!!! ^_^ Sorry not sorry.  
> Come be friends with me on tumblr! I promise I'm nice. http://calmdown-sourwolf.tumblr.com/


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I'm a lying liar who lies, there is one more chapter after this. An epilogue chapter, of course.

Stiles has the worst luck with relationships. And that’s what the thinks as he makes someone’s coffee. He really isn’t paying attention to anyone. He hasn’t slept in two days, and he really wasn’t looking forward to his shift because Derek might be here today to get his daily coffee.

He sighs, staring at the coffee brewing. Stiles gets it. He does. He totally understands that Derek didn’t want to kiss him, but then Derek just started ignoring Stiles. He hasn’t responded to any texts. Like what is that? Stiles tried to kiss him, yeah, which might have been uncomfortable for Derek, sure, but to just ignore him? Stiles thought they were friends.

Stiles has the worst luck with relationships. All through high school he had no dating experience because he was too busy obsessing over Lydia to actually notice anyone else. Well, he had that one thing with Danny, but it was nothing really. Just a kiss to see if Stiles could like guys.

Lo and behold, Stiles does indeed like guys too.

Then once Stiles got to college, he dated, but no one really seemed interested. Until Eric that is. Eric was Stiles’ first serious relationship. Eric was the first person Stiles had sex with. Ever. Then Eric broke his heart, and Stiles swore off relationships and went to one night stands. That didn’t work because Stiles doesn’t like the whole noncommittal part of it, which defeats the purpose of a one night stand.

Then Stiles had a one night stand. And the guy left before Stiles woke up. Then that guy turned out to be Derek. Then Derek turned out to be an awesome guy. Then Stiles asked out Derek. Then he tried to kiss Derek. Then Derek rejected him and stopped being his friend. This sucks.

Worst luck, okay?

His luck continues to get worse when Derek steps up to the counter, surprised to see Stiles here like Stiles doesn’t work here. No, Stiles quit his job just so he wouldn’t see Derek ever again. Yeah, that would happen.

“Usual?” Stiles asks because Derek doesn’t seem to be talking.

He just nods, so Stiles says, “That’ll be three-fifty-four.” Derek doesn’t say anything as he pays for his drink even though this is the first time Stiles made him pay.

Stiles isn’t going to buy the guy who rejected and dropped him as a friend coffee. That’s not how Stiles works. So he makes the coffee in silence, trying to pretend not to notice Derek staring at him. Once he’s done, he hands the coffee over to Derek, who takes a sip.

“The other barista doesn’t make it right,” Derek finally mumbles.

Stiles raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“She makes it too sweet,” he answers quietly. “You make it…just right.” Then he just leaves.

Stiles shakes his head, the anger building before shouting to Jennifer, “Hey, Jen, I’ll be right back.” He runs from out behind the counter and runs to follow Derek. “Hey, asshole!” he yells to Derek’s back.

Derek turns around, his face confused as he steps closer to Stiles. “You’re calling _me_ the asshole?” Derek exclaims.

Stiles is surprised. “Now, we’re getting somewhere!” he finally says. “God, you never talk about how you’re feeling. What the fuck is your problem with me? I get it. You don’t want to be in a relationship with me. That’s fine, but I thought we were friends, Derek? You’re just gonna drop me like that?”

Derek looks furious, and Stiles doesn’t get why. “I don’t want to be in a relationship with you,” he says dryly, and Stiles raises his eyebrows, expecting more from him. “I…what?” Derek huffs out anger, his fingers tightening around his cup. “I don’t want to be in a relationship with a guy who is already in a relationship. If you really want to, you can call me an asshole for that.”

Stiles can feel his face scrunch up because he is confused as fuck. “You don’t want to be in relationship with a guy who is in a relationship?” he repeats. This conversation is really going somewhere with the two of them just repeating what the other said. “I’m not in a relationship, Derek!” Stiles yells. “What the hell gave you that impression?”

“Don’t lie to me, Stiles!” Derek practically growls. “What about Allison?”

Now Stiles is floored. “Allison?” Stiles barks out a laugh at that. “I’m not in a relationship with Allison. That would be difficult since she’s been in love with my best friend since we were sixteen. I…why would you think that?”

Everything about Derek seems to just soften at that. “When we were out on the date,” Derek mumbles. “You guys were all over each other and kissing each other’s cheeks. I just thought.”

“You thought wrong, idiot,” Stiles says with a laugh. “I’m really close with Allison, yeah, but she’s like my sister. She _is_ my sister. I can’t believe you thought we were dating.” He runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “You think that I would flirt with you like I have and ask you on a date and kiss you even though I was taken?”

Derek just shrugs at that and looks down. “I didn’t know what to think, okay? I have a really hard time trusting people.”

Stiles rubs a hand over his face and takes a deep breath. “Okay. This is what’s going to happen. We’re going to try the Spiderman date again, okay?”

“So that was a date?” Derek clarifies. “That I ruined by storming out?”

Stiles laughs with a nod. “Yeah, so what do you say?”

Derek nods and swallows, Stiles’ eyes watching the bobbing of his Adam’s apple. “I won’t freak out this time, okay?”

“Good,” Stiles says softly, staring at Derek’s lips. “If I kissed you right now, what’s the chance that you’ll freak out?”

“None,” Derek says quickly, so Stiles steps up to him and cups the older man’s face, feeling the light scratch of his stubble on his fingertips. Stiles presses his lips to Derek’s and immediately relaxes into the touch when Derek kisses him back, resting a hand on the small of his back. Their lips slide together, and Stiles can taste the coffee he made on Derek’s lips.

Finally, Stiles steps back. “I gotta get back to work,” he mumbles, feeling the blush coming up on his cheeks. “I’ll talk to you later? You’ll actually return my texts now?”

Derek doesn’t anything, just nods as his hand slides away from Stiles. He takes a drink of his coffee before taking a step back. “Bye, Stiles.”

Stiles smiles at him. “Later.”

Stiles has the best luck with relationships.

 

 

Derek is smiling the entire way home, feeling like an idiot for more than one reason. One, the whole smiling thing is actually as weird as Laura makes it seem. Two, he thought that Stiles was with Allison when he clearly isn’t.

“Okay, you all need to give back your keys,” Derek says when he sees another stranger on his couch. This time it’s a man with dark hair and puppy eyes.

The man stands up and storms over to Derek. “What the hell did you do to Stiles?” he demands. “One minute he is gushing about his date with you and the next, he won’t leave his room or let anyone in. What the hell did you do?”

“Scott, right?” Derek asks, and the man nods. “It’s a long story, but I promise Stiles is better now. It was huge misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?” Scott repeats, his eyes narrowing at Derek.

“I thought he was dating Allison,” Derek clarifies.

Scott’s eyebrows shoot up. “My girlfriend of five years, Allison?”

Derek nods. “I told you. Huge misunderstanding. So Stiles tried to kiss me the other night, and I freaked out and left because I thought he was already in a relationship.”

Scott seems to relax at that. “I guess I have to respect your boundaries,” he tells Derek, patting him on the shoulder. “So you and Stiles talked?”

“Yeah, I was probably stupid to ignore and blow him off like that,” Derek admits. “But I locked myself in my room too.”

Scott nods at that, pursing his lips at Derek. “Well, I guess I should give you the spiel,” he says. “If you break Stiles’ heart, I will kill you.”

Derek frowns. “I think there’s a better chance Stiles would break mine.”

Scott laughs at that. “Then you don’t know Stiles as well as you should.” And with that Scott says his goodbyes before leaving the apartment.

Derek can’t stop smiling again. Stiles isn’t in a relationship. Then Derek smiles even wider when he receives a text from Stiles.

**Stiles: Still not in a relationship. Promise.**

**Derek: Hopefully that can change soon.**

**Stiles: Whoa. Dude. That was forward as fuck, which I guess we have done that before so…it works.**

**Derek: When did you want to have our Spiderman marathon?**

**Stiles: Does tonight work for you? I don’t have any early morning classes tomorrow, and I’m off of work.**

**Derek: Works for me.**

Stiles is cleaning all day. Cleaning helps the nerves. It’s good for the soul. Maybe Stiles should get someone to cross-stitch that into a sign to hang in their kitchen. Maybe get some soap bubbles on it and a depiction of Clorox wipes. He bets Lydia could do it if she wants.

_Cleaning is good for the soul._

He will have to discuss this with Lydia. For now, he will just blast One Direction – not that their two albums are on his iPod because they are _not_ – and clean to his heart’s content. But then the kitchen is clean, and he’s already cleaned the dishes…twice.

And he still has an hour until Derek is supposed to show up. Stiles supposes it’s time for a shower and does so while singing about how you don’t know you’re beautiful. Of course that’s the song that gets stuck in his head for the rest of his natural life. It always gets stuck in Stiles’ head because _fuck_ it’s catchy, and Stiles just has a thing for catchy tunes.

After fixing his hair and getting dressed, there is still another thirty minutes until Derek arrives. Stiles wonders what to do now. He’s already cleaned. Snacks are already laid out in front of the TV in an arrangement that took him at least an hour to perfect.

So what does Stiles do for the next thirty minutes? Watch videos on how to cross-stitch because maybe he will just make that sign for the kitchen himself because he is an independent man who don’t need no Lydia, right?

Right.                                                                   

Then there’s knocking on the door, so Stiles shuts his laptop, throwing it on his bed before he walks to the door. Or more like dances as he sings under his breath. He opens the door and smiles at Derek, who is holding flowers. The man has flowers.

“You brought me flowers?” Stiles asks him. _That’s adorable_ , Stiles thinks but doesn’t say because Derek looks frightened like Stiles might kick him out, which he won’t do.

“Yeah,” Derek mumbles, handing the flower to Stiles, who is grinning like an idiot.

So instead of saying anything, Stiles just grabs Derek’s shirt and pulls him into the apartment. He presses his lips against the man’s lips because Stiles is allowed to do that now. His arm wraps around Derek’s neck, holding him there. Derek grabs at Stiles’ hips, and it’s the best feeling in the world. Stiles would love to stay like this _forever_. Well not forever if sex is an option then he wants that. Sex with Derek. Again. That sounds good.

Finally, Stiles pulls back but not very far at all, his forehead resting on Derek’s. “Baby, you light up my world like nobody else,” Stiles sings under his breath with a laugh.

“You’re singing One Direction to me?” Derek asks.

“I felt like it suited the moment,” Stiles tells him with a wide smile. He pulls himself away from Derek, closing the door behind him. He goes into the kitchen, grabbing a vase, snipping the ends off the flowers and putting the flowers in the vase after filling it with water.

“You ever think about weird it is that we give people we like flowers?” Stiles asks while he goes about his tasks because he can’t not talk for long. “Like, hey I think you’re super swell, so here are some dead plants. They’re really pretty looking, and they reminded me of you, so I had them killed so you can have them. Then if you want to, you can put them in water so they decompose slower.”

Derek is giving Stiles a look that’s between amused, bemused, and part wondering why he’s still there. He also looks like he is fighting the urge to laugh too. That’s a bonus. Stiles has never gotten him that close to laughing.

“I’m just saying it’s weird, ya know?” Stiles says, leaning against the counter to stare at Derek. “Who started this tradition? Why? Was it because the dude was trying to woo a girl, who was just in love with flowers? I don’t get it.”

“Note to self, don’t buy Stiles flowers,” Derek mumbles with a smirk on his lips.

Stiles is grinning – did he ever stop? “You can buy me flowers. I like flowers, but tell me that you’ve never thought about how weird the tradition is.”

“I haven’t actually,” Derek tells him with a shrug. “I’ve also never given someone flowers, but I never expected their reaction to them to be anything close to yours. I guess I should have known better then.”

Stiles laughs. “Do you want me to get you flowers, Sourwolf?” Stiles starts walking closer to Derek, who is sitting at one of the barstools. His hand rests on Derek’s unshaved jaw as he looks into the man’s eyes. “Because I could get you flowers. Or chocolates. Or stuffed animals that I won from a carnival game. I can get cliché for you, baby.”

“Would you serenade me?” Derek asks with amusement.

“Been there, done that,” Stiles snorts and leans closer to him. Their lips are touching again, and Stiles wonders if they will actually get to watching Spiderman this evening or just keep kissing for the rest of the evening, which Stiles has no qualms with. Whatsoever. No. Everything is perfect right here with Stiles’ hands cradling Derek’s face and Derek’s hand touching Stiles’ waist.

This is perfect.

 

 

The night, so far, has been perfect. Or at least Derek believes so. Stiles’ reaction to the flowers may have been odd, but it’s Stiles. Seriously. What did Derek expect? That he’d swoon with the offer of flowers and beg Derek to whisk him away off into the sunset?

Not that Derek would refuse if that’s what Stiles wanted.

They finally made it to the couch and have started the first Spiderman movie. Stiles decided that they’re at the point the in their relationship that he can just sprawl everywhere, half of him on Derek. Stiles is on his side, head lying on the armrest as he watches the movie. His lower half is draped over Derek, which is fine with him. Derek thinks he likes the touching. He has never been completely relaxed around people, but he is with Stiles.

He stretches his legs, resting his feet on the coffee table as one arm rests along the back of the couch. His other hand falls onto Stiles’ calf. Then Stiles decides he’s been sitting without moving for too long and stretches his entire body, and it’s entirely too distracting because then he makes a noise in the back of his throat, and Derek is done for.

Stiles glances at Derek and smiles slightly. “You okay over there?”

Derek doesn’t even know what face he’s making right now. He just swallows and tries to calm down the interest in his pants. “Yeah, great. The movie sucks as much I remember,” he says, glancing at the screen where Peter is sobbing at his uncle’s dead body. If the movie and the acting were better, Derek would feel worse for Spiderman. Derek, someone who has lost his entire family and is very familiar with the feeling of loss, doesn’t exactly feel for this Peter Parker. He did in the comics but not so much this one.

“I hate you,” Stiles tells him.

“The comics are better,” Derek responds.

Stiles gives him a shocked look as he flails around, trying to sit up. “You read the comics?” he asks.

Derek just nods once.

“I’ve never been more turned on in my entire life,” Stiles says, staring right at Derek as he climbs onto his lap, his hands resting on Derek’s shoulders.

“You’ve read them?” Derek asks him to focus on anything except for Stiles on his laps.

The younger man nods as his face dips down into Derek’s neck, his lips brushing against his skin. Then his tongue is joining his lips as he sucks on the skin, making Derek groan. “Yeah, talk nerdy to me,” Stiles mumbles against his throat.

Derek tilts his head back, giving Stiles more access, which makes Stiles hum in approval, and Derek isn’t going to survive tonight. He just isn’t. Not with Stiles on his lap, sucking a hickey on his collarbone. So if Derek is going to die tonight, he will go down happy. He slides his hands under Stiles’ shirt, his fingers pressing into the small of Stiles’ back and pushes him closer.

Stiles licks a line up the side of Derek’s neck before attaching his lips to Derek’s. “I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but you’re kind of perfect,” Stiles whispers, pulling back ever so slightly to look into Derek’s face.

Derek just smiles at him, cupping the back of Stiles’ neck. “You’re kind of perfect too.”

 

 

Stiles is staring up at the ceiling, trying to mentally prepare himself for his friends coming over and him having to gush about his date. His perfect date. With Derek.

He already sent out the mass text that the coast is clear, and in the background, Stiles can hear his phone going off as the group messages each other about rides and who is going to be last tonight. Turns out, the last is Lydia, which is surprising. She’s usually the first one to any of their apartments.

Everyone spreads around the living room on the floor because Stiles refuses to get up from his reclining position. Scott sits on the couch, lifting Stiles’ feet so he can sit before replacing them down on his lap.

“You can’t stop smiling,” Scott comments.

Stiles doesn’t stop staring at the ceiling either. “He reads comics,” he just says dreamily. “He’s a closet dork. I will get into more detail once Lydia is here with the coffee. She’d kill me if you knew more than her.”

Scott just grins at him. “But I’m your best friend.”

“But Lydia is scarier than you.”

“I’m not scary,” Lydia calls out as she comes through the front door. “Also, can anyone get off their lazy asses and help me?” Of course it’s Allison who jumps up to help Lydia and distributes the coffee.

Stiles doesn’t even take a sip of his. He just sets it on the ground before finally sitting up. Everyone is looking at him, and that’s when Stiles remembers that this is his first group gush session where he isn’t just going to complain about how awful the date was or how the person left before the food came out. This time he is actually going to gush, so of course all he can do is smile and can’t talk.

“I,” Stiles starts and the stops. “He’s.” He frowns, trying again. “He reads comics,” he just repeats stupidly, and in the corner of his eye he can see Scott beaming.

“He reads comics?” Lydia repeats, unimpressed.

“He reads comics?” Erica repeats but looks entirely intrigued.

Stiles just grins at Erica, who gets it. “He’s such a dork, and it’s adorable. He brought me flowers. He even survived past my flower rant.”

Everyone groans at that. They all know Stiles’ flower rant by heart.

“Stiles, we talked about that,” Lydia says suddenly exasperated. “You’re just supposed to say - ”

“They’re lovely. Thank you,” Stiles mumbles, interrupting Lydia, who is glaring at him for doing so. “Anyway. He’s perfect. He hates the Spiderman movies, but I can deal with that. He just. I can’t with him, guys. I have a great feeling about this. We already set up another movie date. This time the Star Wars first trilogy.”

“You guys are such losers,” Lydia groans, leaning back in her armchair and taking a sip of her chai tea.

“I want to hear the dirty details!” Erica calls out, and Boyd groans at that.

“No, we don’t want to hear that,” he says.

“Good thing Isaac ditched this one,” Allison says with her dimpled smile and a giggle. “I’m sure he doesn’t want to hear about his cousin’s sex life.”

“God, guys,” Stiles groans. “If there was sex, you all wouldn’t be here. We’d still be in bed. We just kissed. I mean, there was a little more, but we decided to wait on the sex part.”

“Why?” Erica asks, looking put out like she was the one who had to put the brakes on her ex life tonight. Stiles bets that Boyd never says no to her.

Stiles goes through the explain it that Derek wants to wait a little longer despite how hard (heh literally) it was for them to stop kissing. Apparently, Derek really likes being kissed on the neck and really likes getting hickeys. Good thing Stiles loves giving hickeys. Stiles sees good times in his future. Good times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, this is a series now. I will add fluff pieces and possible smut in the future. I already have a few thought out.


	5. Epilogue

_Two years later:_

“Stop fidgeting, Derek,” Stiles whispers in his ear.

Derek just gives him a look. So Derek is nervous. He’s expected to be. One, he is in his hometown. The town where his family died in the house fire. The town where Stiles apparently grew up. The town where Derek is meeting Stiles’ dad for the first time.

The town where Derek is going to ask Stiles’ father for permission to ask his son’s hand in marriage.

Holy shit. Derek can’t do this. What was he thinking?

Well, technically, this isn’t the first time Derek has met the Sheriff. The first time was the night of the fire. The second time was over Skype for Stiles to introduce his dad to his boyfriend because Stiles couldn’t afford the time off work or school to visit.

Of course, over the last two years they have been together, Stiles has come back to Beacon Hills. Derek, however, hasn’t. He hadn’t built up the courage yet or got the time off from work. He actually got a huge job designing a building for a big corporation. That took about a year of his time.

Also, over the last two years, Derek has had many conversations with the Sheriff. Always via Skype. They started having biweekly cyber dinner dates. It was weird, but it made Stiles happy to see his dad and his boyfriend getting along.

So technically this isn’t the first time Derek has met the Sheriff, but it sure as hell feels like it.

“He already likes you,” Stiles whispers to his boyfriend, but Stiles doesn’t know the extent of Derek’s plans. Stiles doesn’t know that Derek is planning on proposing to him soon. “In fact, if my dad liked you anymore, I may be in danger of competing for you with my dad.”

Derek can’t even laugh at that; he just levels Stiles with a look. “You’re not helping, Stiles.”

He rolls his eyes at him and reaches over to grab Derek’s hand as he sits closer to him. “You’re going to do great. You made me fall in love with you, and come on, we all know how hard that was.”

Derek glares at him again. “You were in love with me the first night we met.”

“I was in love with your stubble,” Stiles argues with a blush.

Derek’s eyes roll again, but then the Sheriff is walking through the front door, calling out, “Stiles? Derek?”

Stiles jumps up and meets his dad at the entryway to the living room, wrapping his arms around his dad. Derek stands up to meet them over there, reaching a hand out when the Sheriff looks at him over his son’s shoulder. He reaches a hand past Stiles and shakes Derek’s. “Derek,” he says.

“Sir,” Derek greets with a respectful nod.

Finally, the two Stilinskis back away from each other. “You wanted to speak to me alone?” Mr. Stilinski says.

“Yes, sir.” And the nerves are back. Ten fold.

Stiles’ face crumples into confusion. “Why alone?” he asks and then groans. “Are you going to threaten him, Dad? Put the gun in the safe first.”

“He asked to speak to me, Stiles,” his father argues.

Then Stiles turns his attention to Derek. “Are you going to discuss a dowry with my father? I want at least two water buffalos then. If it’s up for discussion.”

Derek just rolls his eyes _again_. He can already hear Stiles telling him that if he keeps doing that, his eyes will stick like that. But he doesn’t say anything as Stiles’ dad leads him to an office, Stiles just staring at them and looking like he desperately wants to stop whatever is about to happen.

They sit down in the office, and the Sheriff sighs. “What can I do for you, son?”

Derek’s throat closes at that word. Stiles did tell him that his dad likes him, but Derek didn’t – doesn’t believe it, and the word “son” is enough to bring Derek to tears when he’s this vulnerable. Instead, he just clears his throat and pulls the box out of his pocket. “I’d like to ask your permission to propose to Stiles,” he finally says.

Mr. Stilinski doesn’t even look shocked. He just nods and holds a hand out for the box. Silently, Derek hands it over for Stiles’ dad to inspect. He pulls it out of the box and checks it off then laughs once. “You light up my world?” he reads off the words engraved on the engagement ring.

“It’s kind of a joke,” Derek mumbles, suddenly embarrassed about it. Maybe that was stupid. Maybe Stiles will think he’s an idiot. The Sheriff probably does.

The Sheriff shakes his head with a smile. “Stiles will love it,” he tells Derek softly and returns the ring back to the box. “I haven’t seen my son this happy since before his mother passed away.” Derek looks down, not knowing how to respond, but the Sheriff keeps going. “Whenever you come up in conversation, which is something he desperately tries to do whenever he talks to people, he can’t stop smiling like an idiot. His eyes light up, and his hands start moving around like there’s just too much excitement in him to keep in.”

Derek smiles softly, imagining the picture of Stiles his dad is painting.

“He loves you,” the Sheriff says. “Hell, I can even stand you. You make him happy, Derek, and that’s all I can really ask of you, so you have my permission, my blessing. Whatever. What I want to know is when? How long are you keeping this a secret from Stiles? _How_ have you kept it a secret so far? The kid notices everything.”

Derek laughs once with a nod. “It was hard,” he answers. “But I think I’m going to ask now. I don’t know how much longer we can keep it a secret. He’s probably almost exploded from not knowing what we’re talking about now.”

“I think he would like it,” Stiles’ father says with a sigh. “He always talked about wanting to be around family and friends when it happened. I guess he can deal without his friends for this. For you.”

“Scott!” someone practically screams, and Derek laughs, knowing it’s Stiles. “What are you doing here, bro? Allison? Erica? Boyd? Isaac? Jesus. Everyone is here. Oh, hey, Laura, where’s your other half-Lyida!”

The Sheriff gives Derek an approving look, so Derek starts explaining. “I flew them all out here, but I didn’t tell them why. As much as I hate talking in front of people or expressing emotions in front of his friends, I knew this is what Stiles wants.”

“Well, I guess we better get out of here then.” The two men stand up, but Derek is stopped with a hand to his shoulder. “How long do you think it will take Stiles to notice the words on the ring?”

Derek smiles at that with a shrug. “I don’t know, but I’ve got the rest of my life with him to find out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the comments and the kudos and everything!!! It's seriously motivated me to finish this as quickly as possible <3 you guys are the best.  
> And this is the end of Part 1.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work in progress, but I would love to hear feedback! <3


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